There will not be a referendum on Catalonia's independence on Sunday, the cabinet spokesman for Spain's government said as the vice-president of the region predicted the majority of eligible voters would turn out.

Spain’s government has ordered Catalonia’s regional police force to identify officials at local schools and other civic buildings expected to be used as polling stations in a controversial independence referendum.

Hundreds of pro-independence supporters in Catalonia are protesting outside a court to demand the release of regional officials arrested in a crackdown by Spanish authorities over a planned secession referendum.

Latest: The leader of Catalonia has said Spain is showing a "totalitarian attitude" with the arrests of Catalan officials and civil servants, and vowed to go ahead with an independence referendum despite legal warnings not to do so.

A Spanish judge has ordered police to search a printer’s shop and two offices of a regional newspaper in Catalonia as part of an investigation into alleged preparations for what Spanish courts have deemed is an illegal referendum on independence for the region.